Ashputtle
by DFM
Summary: “No girl shall be my wife but the one this golden shoe fits.”


Title: Ashputtle  
Author: Devin  
Category: CRA  
Keywords: MSM, Kid fic  
Spoilers: None, just general knowledge of the show  
Summary: "No girl shall be my wife but the one this golden shoe fits."  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the X-Files characters  
Author's Note: This was written for the Worth the Wait challenge. Thanks for Aims for beta reading it for me!  
Dedication: To Val, congrats chica!

As is expected of any little girl at the age of five, Madison Mulder absolutely refused to go to bed. She wasn't tired and besides, if her parents and her older brother Will got to stay up than she most certainly should get to.

Unfortunately for her, both of her parents had dealt with this problem so often with both of their children that they knew exactly what it would take to get their daughter to go to sleep.

"Okay, Madi," Scully told her daughter, "you don't have to go to bed right now but you have to lay down and let your father read to you." Madison was not happy, but since she didn't technically have to go to bed yet she knew she couldn't argue, plus she loved when her parents read to her.

Scully pulled a big book off the shelf that was titled 'Grimms' Tales For Young and Old: The Complete Stories' and handed it to her husband, who knew exactly which story he was to read to his daughter. Madi could never make it through 'Ashputtle', even though Cinderella was her absolute favorite princess.

Mulder walked his daughter to her bedroom and then tucked her snuggly under the covers. As soon as she was tucked in she freed her arms and stretched them in the direction of the teddy bear her father was getting for her.

Mulder sat down next to the now comfortable Madi and started reading. "A rich man's wife fell sick and, feeling her end was near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said..."

Madison made a valiant effort of trying to stay awake but the last thing she heard was: "No girl shall be my wife but the one this golden shoe fits."

* * *

"Little girl," a voice said as she felt herself being shaken awake from sleep. Madison opened her eyes, though they protested greatly, and was met by the sight of her mother. Something was weird about the clothes she was wearing; they looked like she had borrowed them from a Disney movie. "Little girl you have to wake up before the others do."

Something that she couldn't explain told her not to address her mom as Mom, the same thing that was telling her that this was most likely a dream.

"Where am I?"

"My father's house, but if my stepmother or either of my stepsisters catch you here we'll both be in trouble. I have to get you into the kitchen; none of them would be caught dead in there."

Madi wanted to ask her mother more questions but she was being pulled up from where she was lying, in the middle of what appeared to be a drawing room, and dragged quickly toward what she could only assume would be the kitchen.

When they reached the kitchen Scully picked Madison up and sat her on the large wooden table that the ingredients to make breakfast were laying on. Scully began to make breakfast but her concentration was still on Madi. "What's your name?"

"Madison."

"I like that," Scully said, looking up briefly to smile at her. Madison smiled back. "Who are your parents?"

Madison knew that she was considered a fairly smart five-year-old, but she had never managed to lie to her mother and she had no idea what to make up in this dream or even if she should.

"Cinderella!" an obnoxious voice called and Madison's eyes widened as she saw her mother respond to the name. Her mother was Cinderella? That was so cool!

"They would pick today to be up on time," Scully grumbled and grabbed the four plates now full of food, balancing them skillfully, and walked towards the dining room. Madison didn't think twice before following her but stopping just short of being seen by the occupants of the large table.

Three of the people sitting at the table Madison recognized.

The man was her Grandpa Scully, whom she had never met but recognized from pictures. He smiled as her mom placed a plate in front of him but stopped after a glare from the eldest woman at the table, who Madison assumed was the stepmother. She did not look nice.

The two women, who must be the stepsisters, Madison already associated with being bad. She only knew them from pictures as well but that was enough. She knew them from one of the few times she had ever seen her parents upset with each other. Her mother had been on a spring-cleaning frenzy last year and came across a box in the back of one of the closets. In it had been several things but it was predominantly photos.

All Madison got out of the experience, besides the permanent etching of these women's faces in her mind, was two names from the long argument that ensued. Phoebe and Diana.

Madison wished terribly that these women weren't her mother's stepsisters, but they didn't change into anyone else so she realized she had very little control over this dream.

Scully and Diana shared a particularly hateful look when Scully put her plate down, but Diana's wasn't concealed in any way while her mother's was almost impossible to notice.

"What kept you, Ashputtle?" Diana asked spitefully. "Breakfast is supposed to be on the table when we get here so that we aren't forced to look at you this early in the morning." Phoebe snickered while both parents pretended not to notice, though the stepmother looked rather pleased.

Scully looked like Madison felt, like there was nothing she'd prefer more than to punch Diana square in the nose.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again," Scully replied, with as much forced politeness as she could manage, and then left the room completely, almost running over Madison in her haste to exit. "What are you doing up here?" she hissed at her. "I told you to wait in the kitchen. They can't spot you."

"Why not?"

Scully stopped just outside of the kitchen. "Are you royal? Is your father a king or a prince?"

Madison actually didn't know if her father was even in this dream so she had no idea how to answer that. "Um, no."

"Then they won't be happy that you're in their house." She seemed to realize she was speaking too harshly a five-year-old, still shaken from the morning's events, so she softened her voice. "You need help, don't you sweetie? I will help you." She pushed open the door they had been standing in front of and they walked in. "They're going to the King's ball tonight..."

"You're not going?"

Scully laughed, clearly amused by the little girl's question. "No."

"Why not?"

"Even if I could get away with it I wouldn't want to go."

Madison was five-years-old, this is true, but she was very astute and could spot a blatant lie when she saw one, especially when it was in her own dream. "Yes, you do," she stated stubbornly.

Scully ignored her consternation, however, and continued to try and hatch a plan. "How far away are your parents? We're going to have to get you back home but can that be done in the few hours they'll be gone?"

"My parents don't live anywhere near here."

"How'd you get here then?"

Madison shrugged and looked sadly at her shoes, sorry that she didn't have a better answer for her mother.

"Cinderella!" the shrill voice of Phoebe called.

* * *

Scully sighed in frustration, checked that Madison would be okay on her own for awhile, and then rushed off to see what task would be forced upon her this time.

The sun was just setting as the family left for the night's festivities and Madison was almost beside herself with joy, her favorite part of the story was coming up. Madi was caught off guard by two things that happened next though.

The first came when her mom came into the room after seeing the others off. She'd never seen her mom cry before so when she came in with silent tears tracking down her face Madison practically ran to comfort her.

"Oh, sweetie," Scully said as the girl collided with her in her haste, "I forgot you were still sitting down here." She was about to continue on when a loud bang resounded in the tiny room and Madi's second surprise in as many minutes appeared and she couldn't quite stifle her giggles.

Sitting on the floor where he had landed, in his regular hacker outfit, except for the bizarre addition of a tutu, was none other than Madi's uncle Frohike.

"Did someone make my girl cry?" he asked gruffly. Madison felt a wide smile spread across her face; her mom was going to the ball.

* * *

As their newly created coach drew closer to the palace the antsier Madison became. She was constantly fiddling with her dress which was a carbon copy of her mom's, except for being a shade of pink instead of blue. Finally they pulled up in front of the gigantic castle and were immediately helped out of their ride by two young men.

To their backs, the man driving the carriage shouted, "midnight!" and then they were inside.

They were not 5 steps away from the ballroom when the door swung open and someone tried to sneak out quietly. All three froze.

Neither grown-up noticed Madison as she slipped away to get a good seat in the ballroom because their eyes were transfixed on the other's. Her mom had found her dad so things should get interesting pretty soon.

* * *

Madison felt herself beginning to doze as she watched her parents take yet another turn around the dance floor, still oblivious to the rest of the world. The evil stares of her mother's stepsisters had long since lost their amusement to Madison. However, when she heard the clock begin to strike midnight she realized it was past time to be leaving.

Her mother apparently had the same thought because a distraught look passed over her face as she pulled herself from Mulder's arms and quickly began to exit.

He called after her but this only caused her to go faster. In fact, if she hadn't had a head start and Scully hadn't lost a shoe along the way, Madison probably wouldn't have been able to keep up with her mother's pace.

As they traveled away Madison saw her dad pick up the discarded shoe and look after the departing carriage. She chanced a look at her mom and found it hard to tell if she was happier or sadder than before going to the ball.

* * *

By the middle of the next day it was common knowledge that the prince was searching the entire kingdom for the young woman who had lost her slipper at the ball. Unfortunately this gave Scully's stepmother, who had a suspicion as to who he was exactly searching for, ample time to make sure that Scully was never without a task and that she was far away from being able to answer the door at all times.

So it came, when the party finally reached their house, that Scully was on the other side of the house, and Diana was who was able, to greet them.

Mulder, looking at these two women, instantly knew that they were not the correct maiden they were searching for, but nodded to his steward to continue on with the ritual they had preformed with no success the entire day.

Unfortunately for the stepmother, she still didn't know about Madison. So, while Phoebe and Diana argued over which of them would try and squeeze their foot into the shoe first, she slipped away to warn her mother about what was going on.

Madison ran all the way until, out of breath, she reported, "He's here," in between panting breaths.

Scully hesitated only momentarily, though she never once doubted whom Madison meant.

Mulder and his party were just about to leave when, without her even having to call out to stop him, Mulder turned and spotted Scully heading for them and instantly recognized her.

His thrill over seeing her was only mildly tempered by his anger over how badly she was obviously treated here.

This time the shoe fit.

* * *

"Mom, Dad," Madison called as she raced into their bedroom and jumped on the bed in-between them, effectively rousing them from sleep. "You'll never believe the dream I just had!"

The End


End file.
